On route to Cerulean City, Ash and friends are making their way through Route 3.
"How long until we get to the next Pokémon Center?" Misty asked, she was exhausted and needed a break, (she also wanted to delay getting to Cerulean).
Brock looked at his Town Map, "It doesn't look to far, maybe about half an hour?" he replied. Misty sighed; she didn't think she could walk another step. Ash and Pikachu looked back at the redhead.
"Misty, you knew that journeys involved walking right?" he asked, trying to annoy her. Much to Ash's delight, her face turned red with annoyance.
"Of course I knew!" she retorted.
"Then stop complaining!" he shot back. Suddenly, Pikachu's ears perked up when he heard a voice in the distance.
"Pika Pi" he said, trying to get Ash's attention.
"What is it, Pikachu?" Ash asked, Pikachu pointed towards the direction the voice came from. The voice called out again, it was a girl's voice, and it sounded like they were giving battle orders.
"Wait, is that?" Ash said to himself, recognising the voice, he began racing towards the source of the voice. "Ash! Where are you going?!" Brock questioned, then ran after the young trainer, followed by Misty.
Ash turned around a corner to see a girl, about the same as him, ordering a Bulbasaur in a battle with a female Nidoran. She had long brown hair and a white hat with a red stripe around it. She wore a sleeveless blue and black tank top, a red skirt and a yellow satchel bag. Ash grinned when he saw her; she was one of his childhood friends, Leaf. He kept his distance, not wanting to break her focus on the battle.
"Bulbasaur, Tackle!" Leaf ordered, the grass type charged at the Nidoran and slammed into her. The blue rabbit like Pokémon shot a barrage of glowing purple needles at Bulbasaur, which would have been super effective on the dinosaur like Pokémon if not for Bulbasaur also being a Poison type. Leaf was ready to finish this battle.
"Bulbasaur, finish with Sleep Powder!" She commanded, Bulbasaur's bulb opened slightly and released a sparkly blue powder that covered the Nidoran, immediately putting her to sleep. Leaf wasted no time and threw a Poké Ball at the sleeping Pokémon and caught her with no trouble. Bulbasaur picked up the Poké Ball using her Vine Whip and gave it to her trainer. Leaf smiled at the ball, before putting on her belt. Ash walked towards his friend. He began clapping as he walked, startling her, she turned around and was pleasantly surprised to see Ash.
"Well done, Leaf" Ash applauded.
"Ash? Funny seeing you here" replied Leaf, she ran up to him. "How are you?" she asked.
"Great!" he replied, "You?"
"Same as always." She answered. "Anyway, it's great to see you" she said, and surprised Ash with a hug. Brock and Misty finally caught up, panting. Misty looked up and when she saw Ash being hugged by a girl she'd never seen before, she felt a feeling which she wasn't sure of, but ignored it.
"Ash!? What did you run off for?" She questioned, the hugging friends split apart, Ash smiled sheepishly at his two friends.
"Sorry guys, but I heard the voice of my childhood friend here" he gestured towards Leaf.
"Hi, I'm Leaf Yukiko, and this is my starter Pokémon Bulbasaur" Leaf introduced herself and Bulbasaur. Brock and Misty introduced themselves to Leaf as well. Brock and Misty learned that Ash and Leaf had met in pre-school, and had been friends ever since.
"So, where are you headed, Ash?" Leaf asked.
"Mt. Moon, on our way to Cerulean City" Ash explained.
Leaf smiled at this, "Me too!" she exclaimed, "Why don't we go together?"
"I don't see why not" Ash agreed, and then they headed off. After about an hour and a half, the quartet arrived at the Route 4 Pokémon Center, they gave their Pokémon to Nurse Joy to be healed and headed to the cafeteria. It was about 7:30 pm when they had finished the food and everyone was ready for bed. The group collected their Pokémon and rented a 4 person room. By 8:30 everyone was asleep, everyone but Misty that is. She lay looking up at the ceiling, thinking.
'Maybe I should go back to Cerulean now' she thought to herself, 'I know Ash would want to be challenged to earn his badges, but I just don't think any of my sisters can give him a challenge' Misty thought for a while longer before deciding what she was going to do. She got dressed as quietly as she could, wrote a note telling her friends not to worry about her, grabbed her backpack and left silently. She exited the Center, and pulled out a Poké Ball, it had a blue lid with two red lines on top, a Great Ball. Misty released the Pokémon inside, a large swan like Pokémon with white feathers and a long neck. Misty petted her bird Pokémon on its head.
"Swanna, please take me back to Cerulean City" she requested, Swanna nodded, and Misty climbed onto the swan's back. Swanna became airborne and flew over Mt. Moon towards Cerulean City.
The next morning, Pikachu woke up first and looked around the room, he soon noticed someone was missing.
"Pikachu-Pi!?" he cried out and woke up his trainer with Thunder Shock. Ash screamed in pain at the shock, also waking Brock and Leaf up, and turned to Pikachu.
"What is it Pikachu?" He asked the electric type, who pointed at Misty's bed. Ash's eyes widened, "Misty?!" he exclaimed, Brock had gotten out of bed and found Misty's note.
"Ash, take a look at this" he requested; Ash and Leaf walked over to Brock and they began to read the note:
'Dear everyone. I'm sorry I left without telling any of you, but I'm fine, you don't need to worry about me. I had something I needed to take care of in Cerulean. Don't wait for me, I'll meet you there. ~Misty'. The trio were slightly worried about Misty, but accepted her request to not worry about her. When the group was ready for the day, they left the Pokémon Center and headed for Mt. Moon.
After about five minutes of walking, the group heard a non-human sounding screech.
"What was that?" Ash asked.
"I don't know, but we should check it out!" Brock replied, and ran in the direction of the sound.
"Wait up, Brock!" Ash cried out and ran after him, followed by Leaf. The trio came to a stop at the entrance of Mt. Moon, and spotted a small, blue bat-like Pokémon. Brock raced over to it to check on its health, while Ash looked it up in his Pokédex.
"Zubat, the bat Pokémon. Zubat avoids sunlight because exposure causes it to become unhealthy. During the daytime, it stays in caves or under the eaves of old houses, sleeping while hanging upside down."
"What is it doing outside during the day?" Leaf questioned, confused.
"No idea, but it's in bad shape!" Brock replied, concern in voice, "We have to get it back inside the cave." The former gym leader carefully picked up the bat Pokémon and rushed into Mt. Moon. Inside the cave, Brock placed Zubat onto the ground, and reached inside his backpack to find a Super Potion, while Ash and Leaf watched with concern for the bat Pokémon. Brock finally found a super potion and sprayed the medicine onto Zubat. The Pokémon flinched at the stinging sensation of the potion, but endured it. After a few minutes, Zubat was happily flying around the cave, before landing on Brock's shoulder.
"How are you feeling, Zubat?" Brock asked, Zubat screeched happily in response.
"What were you doing outside the mountain, Zubat?" Ash questioned. Zubat took flight from Brock's shoulder and flew further into the cave.
"I think Zubat wants us to follow it" Leaf guessed.
"I'd say your right, Leaf" Brock agreed.
"Then let's go!" Ash exclaimed as the group ran after Zubat.
After a while, Zubat stopped just before a clearing, and pointed towards a nearby rock, instructing the trainers to duck behind it. The trio did so, and peaked over the top and saw a group of three people wearing all black. Ash immediately noticed the red "R's" on their uniforms.
"Team Rocket…" Ash muttered, receiving confused looks from his companions.
"You know these guys, Ash?" Leaf asked.
"Not these guys specifically, but other members" he replied. Zubat once again planted itself on Brock's shoulder and pointed towards one of the corners of the clearing with its wing. The trio looked in the direction Zubat pointed and saw many cages containing many small, chubby, pink Pokémon. Ash pulled out his Pokédex and scanned the imprisoned Pokémon.
"Clefairy, The Fairy Pokémon. This impish Pokémon is friendly and peaceful. It is believed to live inside Mt. Moon, although very few have ever been seen by humans". Unfortunately, one of the Team Rocket members had heard Ash's Pokédex, turned to see the trio.
"HEY YOU!" he shouted.
"Uh oh, busted" Leaf exclaimed, grabbing a Poké Ball from her belt.
"Let those Clefairy go!" Ash demanded.
"Why should we?" one of the grunts inquired, as many Koffing, Ekans and Rattata were released.
"Butterfree, Let's go!" Leaf cried as she threw her Poké Ball, releasing a huge butterfly-like Pokémon.
"Freee!" it cried as it prepared for battle.
"Geodude, let's rock!" Brock cried as he also released his Pokémon, it appeared in front of him and cried out.
"Geoo!"
"You as well, Pikachu!" Ash ordered as the electric mouse ran towards the battle.
"It's gonna be like that huh, okay then, Koffing use Sludge!" one of the grunts ordered.
"Ekans, use Poison Sting!" another ordered.
"Rattata, Hyper Fang!" Ekans and Koffing launched their attacks, while Rattata charged at Pikachu with its teeth growing larger with a white glow.
"Butterfree, stop Ekans and Koffing's attacks with Confusion!" Leaf ordered, Butterfree's eyes began to glow blue with psychic energy as it stopped the poison type attacks and sent them back at the enemy.
"Pikachu, use Grass Knot, followed by Thunder Shock!" Ash ordered. Pikachu's eyes glowed green, before two glowing blades of grass burst through the ground and tied together, tripping the purple rat. Before it could recover, Pikachu sent a powerful bolt of electricity at Rattata sending it flying towards Koffing and Ekans, who were now fainted in a pile thanks to Butterfree.
"Now, Geodude use Rollout!", "Butterfree, Gust!", "Pikachu, Thunder Shock!" the three trainer ordered, the three Pokemon attacked the Team Rocket grunts, and sent them flying into a wall, causing them to go unconscious.
"Tie them up with String Shot, Butterfree" Leaf ordered, Butterfree shot a sticky silk around the unconscious Rocket grunts, tying them together.
Ash walked over to the caged Clefairy and released Charmander.
"Charmander, break the locks off these cages with Metal Claw" he told his starter, who immediately got to work slashing at the cages. After only a few minutes, all of the Clefairy were free.
"Thanks Charmander, return" Ash thanked the lizard, as he recalled him back into his Poké Ball. The Clefairy left the cages and began running around and cheering happily. "I'd say our job here is done" Ash said proudly, as he and Pikachu both assumed a victory pose, which Brock and Leaf sigh at.
As the trio begins to exit the mountain, the halt at the sound of a cheerful screech as they turn to see the same Zubat flying towards them and landing on Brock's head.
Brock smiled, "I think I know what you want" he said to the bat, as he pulled out a Poké Ball. If Zubat had eyes, they would have lit up with excitement at the sight of the ball. It immediately flew at the ball and bumped its head on it, putting itself inside. The Poké Ball shook in Brock's hand a couple times before becoming still, indicating a successful capture.
"Congratulations, Brock!" Ash congratulated.
"Thanks, let's get going then" proposed the former gym leader. The two Pallet Town trainers agreed and headed out of the cave. Once they exited, they could see the nearby Cerulean City, down the hill they were on. Leaf spotted a nearby sign and walked over to read it.
As she read, she began to smirk, "Hey Ash, come look at this" she said.
"What is it?" the boy asked. Leaf pointed at the bottom right corner of the sign, Ash read the words out loud:
"Gary was here, Ash is a…" he paused at the last word, "LOSER!?" Ash's face turned red with anger, "I'll show him! Cerulean Gym, here I come!" he exclaimed as he ran down the hill, leaving his companions as well as Pikachu, in his dust.
They sighed once again, before running after their friend, "Ash! Wait up!" Leaf yelled.
